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Phantasms (episode)
Interphasic parasites contaminating a conduit in a temporary replacement warp core cause Data's dream program to generate nightmares. Summary In the teaser, Data sees three workmen destroying a warp plasma conduit. He tells them to stop, and after he speaks, he emits a high-pitched sound through his mouth. The workers tell him to be quiet, then attack and dismantle him. A startled Data suddenly wakes up in his bed. The ''Enterprise''-D is leaving a starbase after installing a new warp core. Captain Picard has been invited to the annual Starfleet Admirals' Banquet on Starbase 219, and says that after six years, he's run out of excuses to avoid such a boring event. Meanwhile, in engineering, Data can't stop talking about his nightmare. In the nine months he has activated the dreaming program, he has had 111 dreams, but only one he could call a nightmare. La Forge assures him that nightmares are normal, and that being preoccupied with them is also part of the human experience. La Forge and Data attempt to activate the new warp drive, but they run into problems and the Enterprise is delayed for several hours. In his quarters, Data observes his cat sleeping and wonders what Spot dreams about. Counselor Troi visits Data to talk about his nightmares, and encourages him to continue with the dream program. Data dreams. He's in Ten Forward, and Worf is nearby, enjoying a piece of cake. Data asks what kind of cake it is. "A cellular peptide cake, with mint frosting. Would you like a bite?", Worf says. Data declines, and his attention turns to Dr. Crusher and Riker. Riker has a straw coming out of his head, and Crusher is drinking something out of it. There's a telephone ringing in the background. "Aren't you going to answer that?," Riker demands. The workmen are also there, and again Data emits the high-pitched scream. They tell him to be quiet, and he shuts his mouth. One hands him a knife, and he cuts at a cake in the shape of Counselor Troi. Troi pleads with him to stop, but he doesn't. Troi, Worf, and La Forge wake Data up and tell him he's overslept. "That is not possible," he says, but it has happened nonetheless. La Forge theorizes that perhaps it is part of the program, that Data is supposed to oversleep at times, as part of the human experience. He asks about Data's dreams and comments that imagery must have been strange. "Strange," Data says, "is not a sufficient adjective to describe the experience." Data consults Sigmund Freud in the holodeck, but after the psychologist comes up with a bizarre theory – telling Data that the nightmares related to Data's desire for his mother and such – Data leaves. Admiral Nakamura calls the Enterprise, demanding to know when Picard will arrive for the banquet. The captain assures him he will be there on time. Shortly afterwards La Forge and Data again try to activate the warp drive, but there's another problem and the Enterprise is adrift. In engineering, Data sees dream imagery while he's awake. He sees a "mouth" on La Forge's neck, and the engineering tool he holds looks like the knife with which he cut the "cellular peptide cake". He hears the telephone ringing again, opens his own chest and picks up the telephone receiver. "Hello?" he asks. "Kill them. You must kill them all, before it's too late." It is Freud's voice. Data "awakes", and wonders how it is possible that he is having daydreams. Later, Data attacks Troi with a knife in a turbolift. Riker and Worf find them, and Data claims that he saw another mouth on Troi's shoulder, and he had an uncontrollable urge to eliminate it. Data is confined to quarters. Dr. Crusher treats Troi's injuries, but despite her sealing and sterilizing the stab wound, it mysteriously becomes infected. Crusher then discovers an interphasic organism on the wound - and on other crew members, including herself, Captain Picard, Commander Riker, and the entire medical staff. Crusher determines that the Enterprise is infested with the creatures, which are feeding on the cellular peptides of the crew's cells. Everyone has a creature attached to them somewhere, and they can only be seen in a certain light. They don't know how to destroy them, but if they don't, the cells of their bodies will disintegrate. Picard thinks the creatures may be connected to Data's odd behavior, because their locations correspond to objects in Data's dreams. They decide to connect Data to the holodeck, so they might observe his dreaming. Once there, La Forge and Picard observe Data, who again finds himself in Ten Forward, and then in Sigmund Freud's office. The three workmen are there, again dismantling a plasma coil. Data makes the shrieking sound, which immobilizes them. Data wakes up and says he knows how to get rid of the parasites. By reconfiguring his brain to emit an interphasic pulse, the creatures are killed. La Forge explains that the new warp core must have been infested with the interphasic organisms, and that's why they had so many problems initializing it. He will have to construct a new conduit. It will take at least six hours, which means that Picard gets out of attending the admiral's banquet once again. Troi visits Data and brings a snack: a cake in the android's shape. "I wonder what Sigmund Freud would say about the symbolism of ''devouring oneself," Data says. "''Data," Troi responds, "sometimes a cake is just a cake." Memorable Quotes "This oughta be a lot of fun!" : - La Forge "Now let's see how fast she can run." : - La Forge "I have often wondered what Spot dreams about. His twitching and rapid breathing would seem to suggest anxiety. But Spot has never seen a mouse, or any other form of rodentia. He has never encountered an insect or been chased by a canine." : - Data "Dreams are the royal road to the knowledge of the mind." : - Troi, quoting Sigmund Freud "What is it?" "The question is, what are ''they." : - '''Picard' and Dr. Crusher "Normally I would wish you pleasant dreams. But in this case, bad dreams would be more helpful." : - Picard "He will need to be fed once a day. He prefers feline supplement number 25." "I understand." "And he will require water. And you must provide him with a sandbox. And you must talk to him. Tell him he is a pretty cat. And a good cat." "I will feed him." "Perhaps that will be enough." : - Data and Worf, as Data asks Worf to take care of Spot "Mr. Data, what kind of cake is this? "It is a cellular peptide cake." (His mouth full) "With mint frosting." : - Picard, Data, and Worf, in Data's dream "Sometimes a cake is just a cake." : - Troi Background Information *This is one of the few Star Trek episodes to be slightly edited for screening by the BBC in the UK: the scene in the turbolift when Data confronts Troi with a knife (which caused some upset among audiences in the US) was trimmed to remove the actual moment of stabbing. Links and References Guest Stars *Gina Ravarra as Tyler *Bernard Kates as Sigmund Freud *Clyde Kusatsu as Nakamura *David L. Crowley as Workman *Michael Braveheart as Martinez (uncredited) References deuterium cartridge; Farrell; interphasic organism; interphasic scanner; Martinez; mouse; Nakamura; plasma conduit; plasma inverter; Spot; Starbase 84; Starbase 219; Starfleet Admirals' Banquet; telephone; Ten Forward; Thanatos VII; tricorder; Tyler; warp plasma conduit |next= }} Category:TNG episodes de:Traumanalyse es:Phantasms nl:Phantasms